Innehållsförteckning för June 2016 från Guitar Player

YES, WE’VE DISCUSSED THE NICK JONAS “clam-o-thon” at the 2016 Academy of Country Music Awards to death. Tens of thousands of readers reacted to our web articles and social posts about the incident, and we even collected some of your Facebook comments for the Community page in this issue. But guess what? I’m not done talking about it. Well, I’m done bringing Jonas into the mix. He dealt with the tsunami of B.S. with a sense of humor and a bit of zen-like calm. Bravo. The real mind blower in all of this was that a large percentage of the guitarists who commented on the event—whether through a direct email to me, a post on Facebook, or a comment on the web articles—were understanding and supportive of a comrade in…

ON PAGE 62 OF OUR MAY 2016 COVER STORY ON RITCHIE Blackmore, Eagle Rock Entertainment offered up ten copies of The Ritchie Blackmore Story to readers who could correctly answer the question, “What is Blackmore’s idea of the perfect guitar tone?” We thank of all you who took a shot. Below are the names of the first ten readers to email GP Editor in Chief Michael Molenda with this answer, spoken by the Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Blackmore’s Night legend himself: “The combination of an owl meeting a bumblebee in mid flight.” Congrats and enjoy the DVD, gang! ■ Richard Asselin ■ Patrick O'Conor ■ Art Miller ■ Jimmy Romero ■ Chris Yancik ■ Joe Flores ■ Bill Worden ■Terry Gunvi lie ■ Freya Amber Rose ■ Dan Gormley…

I’M CONSTANTLY ASKED TO MAKE TOP FIVE OR TOP ten lists of my favorite songs, players, albums, guitars, and so on, and I don’t like it, because the whole narrowing process freaks me out. I would like to believe that all of us have more than five favorite songs or records, and, if you’re anything like me, those lists constantly change. So I felt I would approach GP’s “riff list challenge” by breaking it into five different decades. Warning: I’m stepping on a soapbox now… There’s so much music out there. Much of it is virtually unknown, and it needs to be discovered, so search it out. Always look for more inspiration. More creativity. More depth. More soul. Find it, learn it, and use it. 1920S “Black Snake Moan,” Lead…

A JOURNEY TO GUITARLAND WITH MAESTRO ARMADILLO TOM AMORIELLO Having just witnessed two oneand-a-half-year-old twins lose their minds for my acoustic guitar, I totally support anything that draws kids to the instrument. This book—which teaches children about the various parts of the guitar, why it’s so fun and cool, and who some of the great players are, all via a guitar-playing armadillo(!)— will get kids hooked. Brian May, Steve Hackett, Jennifer Batten, and I all love this book! —MB RAMONES AT 40 MARTIN POPOFF It sucks that none of the original band members are still with us. But if others have to tell the tale—and it’s an important one— Popoff’s comprehensive and glossy celebration is both scholarly (histories and evaluations of each album) and fun (lots of cool photos and…

Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare [released March 11, 1975] was probably one of the most fun albums I’ve ever done. Alice has a sharp, crazy wit, and there was much laughter and frivolity during these sessions. But when it came time to make the music, we were all focused to the max, and I think you can hear the intensity on the tracks. Strangely, there is a different rhythm section on the record’s first song (“Welcome to My Nightmare”) and its last tune (“Escape”) than on the rest of the album. I’m not sure exactly why that was, but I think it worked really well for the concept of the album. (More on this next month.) Those two songs had Johnny “Bee” Badanjek on drums and Tony Levin on…

IT’S NOON ON A SUNDAY, AND STEVE VAI SHOULD be stressed out. After all, he’s a tad behind on creating the five-part guitar arrangements he will perform with Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abasi on his 27-city Generation Axe tour. He’s also due to fly to Dubai in less than 24 hours, where he will deliver a motivational speech at a YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) meeting. And, in any spare moment he gets at home, he’s feverishly tracking and mixing songs for his forthcoming album, Modern Primitive [Sony]. On top of all that, Vai is remastering his seminal 1990 album Passion and Warfare, which, 25 years after its release, still represents a high-water mark in the history of virtuoso guitar albums. If Vai is feeling any pressure,…

“WHEN I LOOK BACK AT MY CAREER, I JUST CAN’T BELIEVE HOW fortunate I was to have all the right people in my life mentoring me at the most crucial times,” says Steve Vai. Here, he shares what each of his four great teachers taught him. BILL WESTCOTT “Bill was my high school music teacher in Long Island, New York, and every day for seven years I went to his class and learned how to write, read, and compose music,” says Vai. “He also taught me music theory from head to foot. He was tough, and he was my first great mentor.” [Editor’s note: In July 2010, soon after Westcott’s passing, Vai posted a tribute to him on vai.com: “As I sit here right now composing for a 120-piece orchestra…

WITH HIS BAND ANIMALS AS LEADERS AND OTHER projects, Tosin Abasi has stretched the boundaries of technique and technology, championing digital modeling, extended-range guitars, and odd meters. He absorbs all of the sounds and concepts of new music, as much as he is influenced by the greats of the past. So while Abasi may be considered as the “new generation” of Steve Vai’s Generation Axe tour, he’s also an “old soul.” Do you know what gear you’re planning to bring on tour, or are you waiting until you have a few Generation Axe rehearsals under your belt to decide? I’ll bring my two prototype signature Ibanez guitars, but the biggest thing is that I’ll be up against really loud amps, so I want to design a new rig for the…

THE CREAMERY IS PERHAPS BEST known for making custom pickups for Tele, Strat, Jaguar, and Les Paul players who are looking for something a little different. Their Jazzmaster replacement has also earned a great reputation among aficionados of the classic Fender offset model. However, I wanted to explore some of this Manchester, England, maker’s newer humbucker-based designs, and to that end acquired one Filter’Tron-sized replacement set and another two sets to fit standard full-sized humbucker routes. All were tested through a Komet 60 amp and 2x12 cab and a custom-built AC15-inspired combo. SUPER FAT BLACK CAT As a variation on the efforts of other fine contemporary Filter’Tron makers, The Creamery’s Jaime Campbell designed this fuller, fatter and hotter-sounding replacement pickup that retains classic Gretsch clarity and definition while adding extra…

“WHEN I’M NOT OUT TRYING TO PUT FOOD ON the table, I’m looking for sounds other than the fretted electric guitar,” says improv rock guru Steve Kimock. “Recording my album, Last Danger of Frost [Kimock Music], was basically about pointing a microphone at what I do most days—bouncing around searching for sounds, exploring ideas, and trying to get out to the edges.” Kimock splits time between his adopted home in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his home state of Pennsylvania, where he recorded Last Danger of Frost to Pro Tools in his 100-year-old barn with “co-conspirator” Todd Schied. On the new album, Kimock mixes microtonal Eastern influences with Appalachian folk and ambient sonics—there are no cowboy chords or dreadnoughts here. Kimock’s acoustic aesthetic comes entirely from another place. His…

TUNING TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN ONE of the most exciting developments in modern guitar-gear history. It must have seemed unimaginable to early folkies that some magic electronic device could tell if a string was in or out of tune. Similarly, it’s hard to imagine a modern tuner providing an accurate digital readout in a more stealth package than D’Addario’s new soundhole device, the NS Micro Soundhole Tuner. In my experience with the D’Addario NS Micro Headstock Tuner the main issue has been that—even though it fastens pretty darn securely behind the headstock— I sometimes wind up knocking it off putting a guitar in and out of its gig bag. The NS Micro Soundhole Tuner is a natural progression. It clips snugly onto the wood around the south side of the soundhole…

SOUND OFF! GET EXCLUSIVE NEWS. COMMENT. CRITIQUE. SHARE TIPS AND TECHNIQUES. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-NEWSLETTER. FACEBOOK.COM/GUITARPLAYERMAG TWITTER.COM/GUITARPLAYERNOW GUITARPLAYER.COM MICHAEL MOLENDA, Editor In Chief mmolenda@musicplayer.com ART THOMPSON, Senior Editor athompson@musicplayer.com MATT BLACKETT, Associate Editor mblackett@musicplayer.com KEVIN OWENS, Managing Editor kowens@musicplayer.com JIMMY LESLIE, Editor, Frets section j@jimmyleslie.com PAUL HAGGARD, Art Director phaggard@musicplayer.com…

BILLY GRAMMER WAS born in 1925, and he played with a Who’s Who of country music that included Chet Atkins, Charley Pride, Floyd Cramer, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and T. Texas Tyler. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and he scored a hit record as a vocalist with “Gotta Travel On” on the Monument label in 1959. Busy Billy also oversaw and produced the wonderful Grammer acoustic guitar that is still collectible today. Grammer acoustics retailed at around $400 in the mid ’60s, but Johnny Cash’s Grammer acoustic recently sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $131,000. I assume that guitar doesn’t leave the house much. I became aware of Mr. Grammer after hearing a lone track on a compilation LP. I was immediately taken by Grammer’s style, which channeled…

FROM AMP SIMS TO VINTAGE EMUlations, plug-ins are part of today’s virtual effects racks in the studio. But if your setup also includes virtual instruments, you may be able to take your guitar places it has never been before. By replacing the synthesizer’s oscillators with your guitar’s audio, you can not only take advantage of a synth’s built-in effects, but you can “gate” your guitar by hitting keyboard keys, add Mooglike filter sweeps, do sound design, and more. Here are the steps to make it happen. ■ Check whether any of your virtual instruments accept external inputs. If so, when you install them, they’ll also install an audio plugin version. Some suitable synths are Native Instruments FM8 and the outstanding Absynth (whose processing is off the hook for innovative sounds);…

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, California, October 29, 1964 THE T.A.M.I. SHOW—AN EARLY, MTVlike concert flick released by the low-budget film studio American International Pictures on December 29, 1964—was one of the ultimate musical experiences of my youth, as well as a very early harbinger of the “rock and roll rebellion” that forged my later life. I was just eight years old in 1964, and as I was already obsessed with rock music to the point of parental annoyance and fear, there was no way mom and dad were going to take me to see this movie. I had already been banned from seeing A Hard Day’s Night that summer. They would let me see Goldfinger, however, as long as my older cousin agreed to accompany me downtown to…

TRUE STORY: WHILE COVERING A BROADway fill-in gig that required one of my guitars to be in dropped-D, the pre-curtain tune check found me instinctively firing off a few bars from King’s X’s “Out of the Silent Planet.” Upon hearing the distinctive slack-stringed modal riff, several of my pit-mates snapped their heads around, excitedly offering variations of the sentiment, “Dude! That’s King’s X! I love those guys!” King’s X’s cred among musicians is hardly surprising though. Since their 1988 debut, guitarist/vocalist Ty Tabor, bassist/vocalist Dug Pinnick, and drummer/vocalist Jerry Gaskill have alchemized intricate progressive metal riffs, lilting folk-rock harmonies, heavy funk grooves, and unbridled soul-searing passion into a singularly fascinating and distinct style. Envision a collaborative alliance between Jimi Hendrix, Soundgarden, the Byrds, and Wilson Pickett and you’ll get the…

WHEN WE FIRST GOT WORD THAT YNGWIE MALMSTEEN had signed on to Steve Vai’s Generation Axe tour, it was a bit of a headscratcher. I mean, anyone who has followed the classical shred god’s career since he first appeared in Mike Varney’s Spotlight column in the February 1983 issue of GP has inevitably heard the stories of the Swedish 6-stringer’s over-the-top attitude, questionable on- and offstage behavior, and general inability to play well with others. What could possibly go right? But what has been is not necessarily what is, and in the past couple of decades Malmsteen has been a model citizen, re-committing himself to his craft, his composition, and his career. These days instead of building walls—walls of Marshall stacks notwithstanding— Yngwie is instead building bridges and bringing his…

WHEN IT COMES TO POST-VAN HALEN ROCKguitar heroes, Nuno Bettencourt is on a short list of great players who can blend huge chops with groove, melody, songcraft, and finesse. Bettencourt’s work with his multi-platinum band Extreme has earned him the respect and admiration of not just fans worldwide, but also his heroes Brian May and Paul McCartney. It also got the attention of Mr. Steve Vai, who tapped the super-versatile Bettencourt for a slot on his current guitargod extravaganza. How did you get the call for this tour and what were your initial impressions when you heard about it? Steve Vai himself reached out to me. We had always talked about doing something together, and, in the past, he had mentioned me doing G3. I always thought I wasn’t that…

SO HERE WEARE IN OUR FIFTH installment of this series, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. As a teacher, I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to hear from guitarists—some of whom have been playing for decades—who are just now, for the first time, embracing reading standard notation. A good teacher encourages students to teach themselves, so let me put it back to you. What do you want to learn? What part of reading music is most confusing? What would help you get over the next hurdle? What just plain doesn’t make sense? Tell me at mblackett@musicplayer.com and I’ll do my best to address it in a future column. Since I can’t hear you right now, I’ll have to offer up a topic: key signatures. Key signatures are…

THANKS IN LARGE PART TO THE ELECtric-guitar boom of the late ’50s and early ’60s, Italian accordion manufacturers got in on the fun, making guitars with the kind of flair that had only been seen previously in their wonderfully garish accordions. The Ranger is one such instrument, and although a seal branded on the back of the headstock reads, “Made in Italy by Gam Kerri,” it could have been manufactured by Morbidoni, Crucianelli, Bartolini, or maybe even EKO—who went on to make the much nicer “Italian Voxes.” There were so many brand names floating around back then that no one can seem to nail down exactly who made this awesome guitar. WEIRDO FACTOR The Ranger’s body is made out of wood, but with plastic molded around it—a technique that was…

No Shoulder Strap! The "Hip Strap" guitar strap Slinger Straps, LLC. Available Now Slinger Straps specializes in a variety of ergonomic guitar straps designed to reduce or remove the shoulder weight of your guitar to help prevent the aches and pains standard guitar straps can cause. MSRP: $29.95 www.slingerstraps.com info@slingerstraps.com Ratio InvisoMatch™ Mounting Plates Graph Tech Guitar Labs Available Now Formulated from our proprietary TUSQ material, TUSQ Picks is the world’s first and only pick with built-in harmonics. Experience a smooth balanced feel, a clean articulate attack, and highly resonant characteristics that produce three distinctive tones: Bright, Warm and Deep. MSRP per set: Available in 3 tones (Bright, Warm, Deep), 3 shapes (Standard, Bi Angle, Tear Drop), and 3 gauges. $5.95 (4 or 6 pack), $56.95 (48 or 72 pack)…

GEORGE MARTIN For some reason, I’ve always had a mental picture of Mr. Martin sitting in a chair while producing Jeff Beck, and after Beck nearly takes a wall down with an amazing solo, Martin looks up and says, without getting the least bit excited, “Yes, that really was quite good, wasn’t it?” LOL. Thanks for a great tribute. —JOE CESARE MORE ALBUM REVIEWS In your “Noize from the Editor” in the April 2016 issue, you hit it right on the head that t h e r e i s s o much music out there that it can be almost impossible to break through the “distortion and noise.” I was struck by the thought that this is as true for listeners (consumers of music) as it is for musicians…

IN 2001, WROCLAW, POLAND’S LESZEK Cichonski released his album, Thanks Jimi: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix, and, from that touchstone, a world-wide phenomenon was born. Two years later, Cichonski launched the first Thanks Jimi Festival in the Old Market Centre of Wroclaw. The debut event assembled 588 guitarists—young and old, punks and hippies, beginners and shredders, and more— to celebrate Hendrix and also attempt to set a Guinness World Record for simultaneous playing of “Hey Joe.” It didn’t happen. (Sorry, Jimi.) But the now-annual May 1 guitar extravaganza captured the imaginations of players across the globe, and, soon, records started to fall. The Thanks Jimi Festival won its first Guinness World Record for Largest Guitar Orchestra in 2006, when 1,581 rockers kissed the sky with their guitars. Since then, the…

WHEN THE GIBSON ROBOT GUITARS first came out—bearing motorized tuning technology invented by Germany’s Tronical company— they represented yet another milestone in the long line of guitar-tuning miracles. And, as with many such early technological leaps, some problems quickly appeared. These were soon addressed by making the systems smaller, quicker, more accurate, and easier to install. For a time, buying a Tronical-outfitted Gibson was the easiest way to get into automatic tuning, but now you can get Tronical systems for many electric and acoustic guitars. Motorized tuners are very cool in many regards, but here are several things you’ll want to keep in mind to get the best out of them. ■ Robot systems rely on the tuners being able to smoothly move up and down in pitch— and in…

WITH THE IMMENSE RESPECT HE COMMANDS IN THE WORLD OF GUITAR, Steve Vai could have assembled just about any posse of guitar heroes to join him on his first Generation Axe tour, so why did he choose Tosin, Nuno, Yngwie, and Zakk? TOSIN ABASI “Tosin represents a new generation of thinking on the guitar,” says Vai. “Everything about him is evolved—the guitar he plays, the amount of strings it has, his choice of notes, and his harmonic ear. And his chops are just freakish. One thing I love about Tosin’s music is that there’s this beautiful, deeply complex, organic quality to it. I really like his choice of harmonies, because I hear contemporary shredders all the time who are just phenomenal with their technique, but use the same scales over…

IT’S TOUGH TO GENERALIZE WHEN YOU’RE DEALING with superhero guitarists, but if one can consider Yngwie as the classical shredder, Nuno as the melodic song guy, and Tosin as the next-gen wunderkind of Steve Vai’s Generation Axe project, then Zakk Wylde is the guitar spectacular’s heavy-metal heart. His tremendous technique and aggressive approach have tag-teamed to melt more than a few faces throughout his career, but Wylde is also unafraid to explore his softer side, as on the recently released Book of Shadows II. The very busy “berserker” is also kicking off his Wylde Audio line of guitar gear, as well as continuing to lead Black Label Society. You’re doing this, you just released a solo album, and you’ve started a gear-manufacturing company. That’s a lot on your plate. How…